


Sterling Dreams Of A Time Long Ago

by KriemhildGretchenKaname



Series: Sailor Scouts Of The Horses [1]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Thoroughbred Series - Various Authors
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 14:24:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5500595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KriemhildGretchenKaname/pseuds/KriemhildGretchenKaname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Christina wins Sterling Dream without having to give away her half interest in Wonder's Legacy. Later, Christina becomes Sailor Moon and fights the Negaverse with the aid of Sterling and the mysterious Knight Earth. How much different would the story be? Sailor Moon retold in a different way with Thoroughbred characters taking the place of cannon SM characters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sterling Dreams Of A Time Long Ago

Sterling Dreams Of A Time Long Ago  
Chapter One: Beginning Of A Partnership

_Christina_

The day everything started, I was playing the riddle game with my brother/best friend Kevin. What was the riddle game? Basically all we did was tell eachother riddles and explain our answers when we figured them out until we either decided to stop or Mom and Kevin’s dad Ian came to get us for something, and whoever answered more correctly during that time won. Well, technically the game could also end when one of us ran out of riddles, but usually Mom or Ian came to get us before that happened.

“My turn.” Kevin announced. “ _I appear often in daylight, but seldom at night. What am I?_ ”

I snorted. “You’re going to have to do better than that. The answer is, of course, a shadow. When the sun is bright, it usually appears, but when it’s dark, shadows don’t appear unless you’re by a street lamp or something. My turn. _Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they all stand still._ ”

He thought for a moment. “Teeth.” He said confidently. “The ‘red hill’ is your gums and the ‘thirty white horses’ are your teeth. The stamping and champing is chewing. Good try, but I’m going to win this game. My turn. _This thing all things devours: birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal. Slays king and ruins town, and beats high mountain down. What is it?_ ”

I had to think about it for a while, but after a couple minutes I got it. “Oh, it’s time!” I exclaimed. “It devours all things because they all die after a while and their bodies decompose. The gnawing iron and the biting steel, and the grinding hard stones to meal refers to stones being ground into dust after a long time, and metal rusting. It would slay kings because they die, and ruin towns because anything can happen in the span of a few years. It ‘beats high mountain down’ because time can wear even the tallest of mountains down. Nice try, but you’re gonna have to make ’em harder. _Water reflects, shadows move like a body’s twin, and illusions aren’t the real thing. What do these things combine to create?_ ”

Kevin pondered it for quite a while before he finally sighed. “I don’t know. What do water, shadows, and illusions all combine to create?”

I grinned. “Both a reflection and a mirror. Because like water, a mirror reflects, like a shadow, a reflection moves like a body’s twin, and like illusions, a reflection isn’t the real thing, and a reflection is found in a mirror. Oh hey, there’s Mom.”

Sure enough, Mom and Ian were approaching, and from the looks of it, it was time to go to the track. I wasn’t really very interested, but Mom insisted I come. She probably was hoping to get me interested in racing, which was something I highly doubted was going to happen. I was much more interested in Eventing, and I didn’t see that changing any time soon. Oh, Mom and Dad had tried to get me interested in racing by giving their half-interest in Wonder’s Legacy, Mom’s horse Wonder’s last foal, but the fact was that I just wasn’t interested in racing at all.

Frankly, I didn’t see why so many people enjoyed watching a bunch of horses run around in a circle— enough to pay to watch it, even.

“Bugger.” Kevin grumbled, earning a sharp look from his father, who knew full well what the word meant. “I guess you win this time, imouto.”

I glared at him. “Don’t,” I growled. “Call me imouto.” In Japanese, which Kevin’s mom knew a little of, imouto meant little or younger sister, something I despised being called. I wasn’t that much younger than Kevin, and I was taller than he was!

“Whatever you say.” He grinned. “Imouto.”

What resulted was a game of Kevin Will Be _Dead_ When I Catch Him (as I called it) and Run _Away_ From the Big Scary Imouto Monster (as Kevin called it).

Finally, with an amused smile, Mom managed to force us apart. “Come on, you two. It’s time to go to the track. And yes, Christina, you have to go. Legacy is running.”

I scowled. “Can I at least take my sketch book?”

Mom debated for a moment. “Alright, as long as you watch Legacy’s race.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. But I still don’t see—”

“‘Why people like watching horses run around in a circle enough to pay to see it.’” Mom finished. “Yes, you’ve told me this several times. While you’re entitled to your own opinion, I wish you were a little more interested in racing. You live on a racing farm for Pete’s sake.”

I scoffed. “Fat chance of that happening, Mom.”

She sighed. For the longest time, she said nothing. “Let’s go.” She said at last. “Legacy’s race is in an hour and I want to make sure he’s ready.” I went to the track and I watched Legacy’s race, reluctantly, drawing when I could, and that was when I saw something that caught my eye.

I was watching the maiden claimer races when I saw a silver mare with an unusual crescent moon mark on her forehead jump over the railing. I liked her so much that I ran back to our hotel room and grabbed all the money I had saved up (I was what Kevin liked to call a penny hoarder— I knew how to save, and save, and save some more) and then used it to put a claim on the mare, Sterling Dream, as she was called.

The problem? Someone else put a claim on her as well. And to make matters worse, there weren’t any track officials around as they were dealing with another claim— there was a dispute about who had the stronger claim and it got violent, so all the track officials were needed to make sure no one got hurt.

As we wondered how to solve the matter, I came up with an idea.

“I have an idea.” I began, trying not to smirk. “We’ll play the riddle game.”

“Riddle game?” The woman who also had a claim on Sterling Dream echoed.

I nodded. “It’s easy. All you have to do is tell your opponent a riddle. If they can answer, they have to explain their answer. Normally my friend Kevin and I play until we get bored and decide to stop or until our parents drag us away to do whatever it is they need us to do, but I think for simplicity’s sake the two of us can just play until someone either can’t answer a riddle or can’t answer it correctly. Are you willing to play?”

The woman thought about it for a moment. “I’m willing to play.” She decided.

“Then I’ll let you go first.” I decided as a gesture of good sportsmanship.

“Thank you Christina. That’s surprisingly mature of you. My riddle is this: _what walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in at noon, and three legs at night?_ ”

I grinned. “It’s a person. Because in the morning, when you’re a baby, you crawl on all fours. At noon, when you’re an adult, you walk upright on both legs. Finally, at night, when you’re old and gray, you walk on three legs because you use a cane.”

“Very good. Yes, that’s the answer. Alright, your turn.”

My grin broadened. “My riddle is this: _what is it that_ everything _has?_ ”

The woman thought for a good long time, before she finally answered “Atoms. Everything in the world is made up of atoms.”

I shook my head. “Nope. Not quite. You’re close, but not quite. I said what is it that _everything_ has. A thought has no atoms. An emotion has no atoms. That is not the right answer.”

“That’s a good point. What’s the answer then?”

I smiled. “A name. Because if it doesn’t have a name, how can we know it exists?”

The woman smiled back. “Well played Christina. Alright, Sterling Dream is yours.”

I beamed. “Thank you.”

“Nice job. Of course you used my riddle to win, so I get to tease you about it.” Kevin told me.

I snorted. “Like hell you get to!”

“Better watch your language, imouto!” Kevin taunted, which started another game of Kevin Will Be _Dead_ When I Catch Him/Run _Away_ From The Big Scary Imouto Monster.

We loaded up Sterling and Legacy and drove back home, after I officially gave my interest in Legacy back to Mom and Dad, my cousin Melanie in tow. I was over the moon about having Sterling. At long last, I had a horse that was truly mine.

Not a horse that Mom and Dad gave me to try to get me more interested in racing, not an old pony that I outgrew a long time ago, but a horse that was mine. Who knew, maybe now Melanie, my cousin, would get a horse of her own too. She seemed to be quite taken with Legacy, in a way that I never was, and in return Legacy seemed quite taken with Melanie. Good for her.

Several weeks after I won Sterling through the Riddle Game, Mom had she and I riding to the nearest farm supply store because it was good exercise for us, it got me out of the house, and if I wasn’t back too late, Mom would let me go jumping when I got back.

“Christina,” Sterling spoke up suddenly. “Be on your guard. I sense something up ahead and I don’t like it. Something dark and powerful has awakened.”

I wasn’t sure if I could talk to Sterling or if Sterling could talk to me, but for whatever reason, I could understand her perfectly.

“What do you mean by _‘_ something dark and powerful’ Sterling?” I questioned.

“I’m not sure exactly. But I do know that only you can stop it.”

“Me?” I demanded. “How am I the only one who can stop it?”

Sterling rolled her eyes, muttering a prayer to Pegasus, Sleipnir, Arion, and the Horse Lords to save her from demanding teenagers before she closed them. The moon mark on her forehead began to glow and a black wooden staff engraved with what appeared to be runes appeared. What in the world? “Take this and dismount in a minute. Then raise the staff and call out the first thing that comes to mind, as long as it isn’t something stupid.”

“Don’t worry,” I promised. “I already had something in mind.”

“It had better not be anything stupid. I’ll stop for a moment, and let you dismount, then do what I told you.” Sterling ordered as she stopped. The odd crescent moon mark on her forehead glowed and the runes glowed as it floated in the air.

I slid off her back once she stopped in a deserted alleyway, and then grabbed it and raised it.

“I’m small as an ant, big as a whale, I’ll approach like a breeze, but come as a gale. By some I get hit, but all have shown fear, I’ll dance to the music, though I can’t hear. Of names I have many, of names I have one, I’m slow as a snail, but from me you can’t run. Sailor Moon— set up!”


End file.
